'Risk assess all aspects of manufacturing process'

The call followed the prosecution of a Peterborough company after a worker had his arm amputated. Peter Brotherhood Ltd of Peterborough was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £16,000 in costs for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The HSE said that in February 2006, Roger Boon, an experienced operator from Whittlesey, was carrying out a routine task setting up work on a moving lathe. His clothing became caught on a protruding bolt which dragged him into and over the machine and resulted in the amputation of his left forearm at the scene of the incident.

It added that although a generic risk assessment had been carried out, and entanglement risks identified, the company failed to carry out a risk assessment of the setting up process for this job and failed to recognise the risks involved.

HSE Inspector, Paul Hoskins said: "I hope this tragic incident makes it clear to employers that they need to adequately assess the risks throughout the manufacturing process. Setting up operations need to be included in risk assessments to ensure all the hazards have been identified.

"Had this company identified that they were using of a piece of equipment with dangerous protruding bolts, the risk could have been designed out sooner, and this terrible incident could have been avoided."